Friday, September 2, 2011

More on Annie

There’s a little strange creature that squeaks and growls and darts around furtively.  I don’t know what the big deal is but there seems to be a big fuss in the house over it.   I’m in my golden years and expect to retire in peace.  Why, oh why, did they bring this funny-looking thing here?

Mama’s going to talk about the creature’s drama now.  Warning: When you look up the word succinct in the dictionary, you will not see Mama's picture.

I want to thank everyone for the encouraging comments and good advice about Annie.  We brought her home last Thursday.  Friday morning there was bloody urine in both bathtubs.  The previous owner told me that she did the same thing once last year when they brought home a new dog.  I called Annie’s vet.  Since she just had a check-up two days before, they asked me to bring her in but they wouldn’t charge me for the exam.

Well $135 later, we found out she has a condition called Feline Idiopathic Cystitis (FIC).  Apparently, this is diagnosed once infection, blockage, etc. are ruled out.  FIC is brought on by stress by things like moving, new cats, new home or all of the above!  This is treated with pain medication, a canned-food-only diet and time.  It supposed to clear up in about a week.  Since then, she’s been peeing blood multiple times a day, every day.  She goes to the litter box more times than I can count and does just little dribbles.  It doesn’t help that she’s not drinking much water and only wants to bury the canned food.
 
It gets worse.  When the vet took Annie's urine she also did an ultra-sound on her bladder.  There was an unidentified mass on the ultra-sound. Back to the vet she went on Wednesday for an x-ray (and another $100).  Annie has two stones.  She’s going to need surgery.  I’ve been waiting all day today for the vet to call me with an estimate for the surgery cost.  I was awake most of the night last night anticipating how much this is going to cost.

Poor Annie has been in the car four times in the last five days and to the vet three times.  We’re not supposed to exacerbate her stress, but that’s just we’re doing.

Some good news is she’s been coming out more and receiving pets from us.  She still spends long periods of time under the bed, but she has also made some brave forays into the main part of our home.  She seems to feel pretty well in spite of the stones and the bloody urine and the too-frequent trips to the litter box.  She growls at Simba and Lucy, but they tend to ignore her most of the time.  Lucy does hiss at her from time to time, but they’ve been pretty good overall.  I bought a Feliway dispenser from the vet at their suggestion (a lot of you suggested it as well).
Thanks so much for listening.  Annie is a sweet, sweet girl.  She has a waddle more than a walk and a tiny, squeaky meow.  I still can't understand why her previous owners didn't want her.

24 comments:

  1. Poor little Annie. She must be so confused and frightened at all the happenings in such a short span of time.
    Have you tried to give her some home cooked diet? Such as steamed chicken? Add some water to the bowl (with the chicken) before steaming so you get a little chicken juice "soup". You might want to consider putting her on a raw diet...
    All the best! I can only imagine how worried you must be.

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  2. Poor little thing! I hope she is not in a lot of pain. Thank the Lord she has you now to take care of her.

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  3. Poor Annie. Is this why she was given up, because they knew she'd need surgery or generally was having this chronic problem?

    There's a vet pharmaceutical brand of glucosamine which is supposed to help with this kind of thing (not the stones, just general bladder health) because apparently the bladder walls have the same properties as joints. You also can give the human supplement in a cat-appropriate dose--I had bought some for my Annie, but it was too late for her. If you look into it, I'd suggest doing more research, though. I wish I could remember the vet brand name, but I can't.

    Purrs and Light to Annie...and to you!

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  4. I hope it is not that bad at all. Poor Annie, unfortunately, I am not very familiar with cat care, so I offer no advise.

    Also, I hope the hissing and purring create a melodic tune.

    Annie found a very loving and caring home.

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  5. it's good that Lucy and Simba are ignoring
    the hissing and growling is really just theater for them

    it's wonderful that Annie is coming out more
    when I first brought Isadora home she played and seemed so happy
    a few days later she hid and wouldn't eat
    turns out her mouth was so badly infected

    thousands of dollars and 2 surgeries later she is healed and she and Siren exist, soemtimes they even enjoy each other
    during the hurricane I noticed a new development, they looked for each other and sat near each other when they were afraid

    I hope you can get some financial help for her surgery
    look into vet foundations
    I got help for Iza's care

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  6. Poor baby! I hope things get better for her.

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  7. Our Grayce had bladder stones and much the same symptoms, only no blood. The surgery was laproscopic, and cost us around $600...but our vet is kinda expensive (but we like him) so yours might be less. After Grayce came home she was a brand new cat, no kidding, and right away! She slimmed down and runs around like a fool and is SO happy! She has had bladder problems from kittenhood on and we are sorry she wasn't diagnosed sooner, she's THAT much happier. Good luck with Annie, I think the surgery will do the trick for her. Try sprinkling some crushed kibble on top of the canned to tempt her to eat it.

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  8. I wonder if her former owner couldn't afford the medical bills, so glad she has you. I hope she's better soon.

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  9. Oh that poor poor sweet baby girl...how miserable she must be..how worried you are and yes, the green papers are going to be used. Been there but not with this problem..it was another. Thank God she has you.

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  10. Oh poor Annie! We're sure glad you have taken her in. We're sure the stress of everything she is going through now isn't helping. We hope the feliway helps...not sure how big your place is, but you could always add another diffuser...feliway will work, but you have to have a lot of it. We have 6 diffusers all over our house! Mom buys it on line and gets it a lot cheaper than the stores. Let us know if you want some info on that. We agree with the Lounge Kats, some crushed up dry food on the canned might entice her to eat it. That's what our mom has to do with Ernie sometimes.

    We hope Annie improves...at least she has you taking care of her. She is adorable!

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  11. Aaah, poor Annie!!! How she is suffering, she is just so lucky she has found you to take care of her, but what a worry & concern aswell!
    Don't know if it's any help, but my daughters cat use to keep getting very dehydrated resulting in infections. The vet suggested actually adding water with the cat food which appears to have helped....drinks the water to finish the meat.
    Please Annie is at least starting to accept part of her new homelife. Really hope things improve!
    Kind Regards!

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  12. Oh sweet Annie we are sorry to hear that you are not feeling well.
    Peanut had the same thing back in March. The antibiotic and urethral muscle relaxer fixed him right up. He didn't have stones or any mass though. I hope the surgery won't be too expensive.
    Keep us posted. We send hugs to all.

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  13. It works! thank you to have taken time to change things on your computer!
    Hugs!

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  14. Most likely they were put off by the cost of the medical procedures she's going to need. Sounds like she's going to be an expensive kitty. My son has one of those, also kidney/bladder problems but grandson lives Jasper more than anything so there's no way they could euthanize him.

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  15. Definitely call around to your area vets and get an estimate of what their costs would be. If this is a vet that you are established with, see if he'll let you make payments over a few months. There is a credit card for pet care, CareCredit, that you might be able to obtain. As long as you make payments on time, there is no interest. However, if you don't, it's a high interest rate. Their website is www.carecredit.com. There is also a nonprofit org that provides grants of $100-200. Check out their website, www.redrover.org, for more info. Lots of healing thoughts and purrs going out to Annie from me and my four girls.

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  16. We truly hope that all works out for Annie. We will be purriing and praying! We hope you find a good vet that won't charge so much!

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  17. Hi there !
    Grayce from the Katnip Lounge sent me over to you.
    Me and mom feel so sorry for little Annie :(
    I hope efurything will be OK with her !
    As we live in Sweden I can´t give you any tips on good vets.

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  18. Gosh, poor Annie. We sure hope you can find a vet that isn't so expensive. We just came from The Lounge. Also maybe, you could put up a donation button on your blog here to help you with the vet expenses. Let us know how much it is going to cost. Take care.

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  19. My vet is the Cat Doctor in Thousand Oaks CA

    http://www.thecatdoctoronline.com/

    It is almost as far as Vegas from Orange County, but you could see what they have to say.

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  20. Any local feline rescue organizations or TNR groups? Contact them about the vets they use. These organizations run on a budget. Purrs for Annie.

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  21. Poor Annie, sending love and purrs. At least she is lucky to have found such a caring mum to look after her in her time of need =^..^=

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  22. Heya girls! We live in the OC as well. There are a couple vets I can recommend; one is Dr. Horn in the city of Orange at the Orange Villa Animal Hospital ph: 714-637-3669. OR: The Pet Hospital in Orange, Dr. William Wyatt ph: 714-771-3261. Lastly, I have worked with Meowz Rescue in the past; they have a website; call them and ask for the Vet they use (He is local), Dani the gal that runs the rescue swears by him and that his prices are always reasonable for rescued pets. phone: 714-997-0868.

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  23. Hi Lucy. We saw your comment about wanting more info on where to buy feliway cheaper. Pet stores like PetSmart and PetCo have it probably cheaper than your vet. Our mom gets it online from entirelypets.com. They are pretty cheap and if you google them with coupon, sometimes you can find a coupon on line like for free shipping or $5 off. Our mom buys the feliway in bulk (like 6 at a time) and it is lots cheaper that way.

    We saw that the surgery that Annie needs is quite expensive. Have you thought about maybe the Cat Blogophere could have an auction for you to help raise needed funds? Or maybe put a donation button on yoru blog? We know the CB is always willing to help out. Just a thought. Let us know if we can help.

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  24. Oh gosh, you have got your hands full! Poor Annie. We know how you feel too, in that, each kitty our Mumsy has taken in, she wondered why in the world they were not wanted. We feel so bad for Annie. We hope she bees okay. You know, we hiss at each other and whap each other too sometimes. But we still wuz each other too. So, it's gonna bees okay. And hey, we maybe late...but we always happy to listen!
    (((hugs))) to everyone!

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